Looking at Tirtha's post, made me think about my own journey, something which i have not thought about in a long long time.

So here goes.

It started off in early 2007, After nearly 10 Years since i had my last aquarium i wanted to keep an aquarium again and it had been my long time dream to keep Discus. So i started researching on Discus and stumbled upon the below tank created by Takashi Amano

I was just too stunned to see this picture, I just kept looking at it and the sheer beauty of it captivated me. For me then, creating something like this within a glass box was equivalent to a Fanatasy.

After drooling on this picture for a while I thought to myself "If it can be done ..... then i can do it as well" and i went full steam ahead and got a 36x18x18 Metal Rack which could hold a tank at the bottom as well. Built the tank myself and went about creating my First Planted Tank. When i look back now, I was so eager to start a planted tank that i did not bother to read up what is needed to even create and maintain tanks like these. (A Big Mistake) , Thats why a lot of you might see me advicing newbies who venture into plantd tanks to read, read and then read some more .....

Anyways here is what i ended up creating

Tank: 36x18x18

Substrate: River Gravel

Filter : Internal 1000L/H Filter

CO2: None

Light: CFL (Dont remember the wattage)

Dosing: None

2007

This tank went through multiple failures and multiple redo's in my quest to improve the scape and to get the plants to survive. There was a time when i even tried DIY CO2 for 4-5 months before i gave up on it.

Then came the next phase, LEARNING

This is the phase when i started reading up posts from Members keeping planted tanks, especially Madan's posts. There were somethings which i just did not understand like dosing, Lighting Color Temp, Substrate etc which i looked up via google and read some more.

Finally after absorbing a lot of information, I went about changing things in my tank. Invested in T5HO Lights and Pressurized CO2. Also invested a bit in buying 1 Ltr of ADA Amazonia which can be seen in the below scape as well on the extreme left. So below is the scape i ended up with after slighly more than a year into Aquascaping.

2008

Mystic Garden

With the success of my First Planted Tank came MTS (Multiple Tank Syndrome) , I started off with my second tank. This tank lasted about 3 months, Had to rip it down along with the 3 Footer when i moved my house.

Tank: 36x18x18

Substrate: ADA Amazonia II

Filter : HOB 600L/H Filter

CO2: Pressurized

Light: 2 x 18 Watts PLL

Dosing: None

2008

Cube Garden

In the later part of 2008, Madan had started a tank which was an Iwagumi Tank, Here i came across another term which i had never heard of .......... "IWAGUMI" . That started my research on Iwagumi, I immediately fell in love with this rock art form and wanted to have a beautiful Iwagumi Tank. At that time i had rocks that i "thought" looked fantastic and ended up creating the below scape

2008

Rock Scape

But a few days into this scape, I was not happy with it as it looked nothing like the tanks i saw on the net, This tank went through multiple changes in rock positions, and finally i arrived with the below scape ........ which i still did not like

Eventually this scape became a home for my Dwarf Orange Crayfish.

LESSON LEARNT: If you dont have the right rocks, Its not possible to create a good Iwagumi. Later on i will show you an Iwagumi i have done using ADA Ryuoh Stone which i consider my best Iwagumi till date.

Last edited by Seetharam on Wed Jun 15, 2011 12:37 am; edited 7 times in total

Nayakere , I thought of this once when you were penning down your journey, But time did not permit me to do so, But now i have some free time to squeeze this in. Yep, Some final shots as i reach the present are good, That will come right at the end , Then probably will maintain this thread with my new scapes with their final shots.

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